| CD REVIEW Rolo Tomassi |
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Band : Rolo Tomassi Taking their name from the fictional character in the movie LA Confidential, this Sheffield based British quintet composed of lead singer Eva Spence, guitarist Joee Nicholson, keyboardist/ second singer James Spence, bassist Joseph Thorpe and drummer Edward Dutton formed in 2005 and began to play to small audiences in local venues immediately after having written & demo-recorded their first songs. A self-titled 3-track demo cdR was made on James Spence’s own independent label Mayday! to be sold at those shows. A 4-track cassette demo followed soon (2006), as did the 2006 split with Mirror Mirror, issued in collaboration with the Speedowaximprint. The band then signed to Holy Roar Records to release their official label debut in the form of the 2006 self-titled 4-track EP featuring re-recorded songs and new ones. However the band also continued to release stuff through Mayday!, including, in 2007, a split with Cutting Pink With Knives (in collaboration with Yehonala Recordings), the Credit Card full-length, the Remixo Tomassi Volume 1 CD, and the live Summer 2007 album. 2008 was started with the release of a cdR-single featuring new tracks “Digital History” and “Beatrotter”…and then the band signed to Hassle Records. From then on a fload of official releases comes, starting with March 2008’s EP Rolo Tomassi - Live @ Eurosonic, and followed by the band’s full-length debut Hysterics in September and a single for album track “I Love Turbulence” in December. 2009 was opened with a contribution to the Shred Yr face Vol.2 compilation issued by Hassle in collacoration with the Wichita, Matador, and Coalition labels. It was followed by a split with Cancer Bats in April, a split with Throats in August, and Acoustics/ Remixes in December. In between, the band also had enough material left to release the End Hysterics EP on Mayday! in October. October was also the month the band moved to Los Angeles for 3 weeks to record the new album (plus B-sides for singles) with DJ/producer Diplo (check MIA, Santogold, Major Lazer). Rolo Tomassi started the new year with a sold-out headliner tour in January, travelled to Australia to be part of the 5-date Soundwave Festival at the end of February & beginning of March, and in April went on another headliner tour (Europe and further UK dates) with label mates Trash Talk and Throats. Normally, the tour was to coincide with the album’s release on April 19, but the label pushed back the release. April in stead saw the release of the Party Wounds single, which had the non-album “The Golden Ghost” as b-side. Time to talk music, right? Because up to now I’ve left you in the dark about that! What you get, in essence, is a mixture of (or gearing specifically to) Punk Jazz, Experimental Rock, and Mathcore. On top of which you get somewhat varied vocal stylings, depending on the ferocity of the track at hand. The calmer passages see Eva in a usually solo, girlie style, while the more energetic tracks or passages (some are outrageously noisy) see her mix a screamed/ shouted style with that of her brother. According to the info we got, RT feels for the first time completely at ease with their music, seeing their older material as a build-up for what they bring today. Coming back to the music…the keyboards are very important, bringing aloofness in the Mathcore tracks and ambience in the calmer ones. The guitarist is really versatile, able to go from freaky Jazz Mathcore with wacky tempo changes and time signatures (check the first songs on the album), to a more Alternative Rock style (as evidenced in the album’s closing tracks). Well, I realize the above description may still leave one wondering, so why don’t you just check out the material posted at myspace.com/rolotomassi. Not knowing the songs off other releases (but I assure you that ain’t gonna be for long, because I intend to buy as many of the band’s previous releases as possible – preferably the LP versions, of course), I’m not sure whether what’s presented on the MySpace page is truly representative for the band’s versatility, but hey…why don’t you use your imagination for once, and try to find other means to check out this band’s wacky new album? Maybe you could even go have a listening session at the local record store, eh? Would at least bring you from behind the pc and out of the house for once! Well, leaves me to mention that the album comes in different forms, the CD as either digi-pack or as the special edition with screen printed & hand-numbered cardboard sleeve (including exclusive poster). 12-inches also come in 3 different forms: 1) translucent blue vinyl with solid white and grey speckles, 2) translucent purple/ translucent red vinyl, 3) solid white/ grey spiral coloured. Go get ‘em vinyl freak, you know I am! 98/100 Tony. |